Michaux Maximus – May 5

The last month saw a huge increase in my training. I was riding 10-15 hours a week again, and racing. Not surprising that my foot issue came back to rear its nasty head. I decided to try and race anyway, because I didn’t have any other races scheduled for a few weeks. What’s the worst that could happen? And Michaux was kind of a big deal to me… well because it was Michaux, number one. And it was also my longest race to date. I was racing sport class which is around 12 miles and Michaux was 20, on insanely technical terrain. That’s a pretty big jump.

We pre-rode some of the course the night before, but I was already pretty sensitive in my foot and I didn’t want to aggrevate it. Race day is here and I got to wear my new she-bibs! So excited!!! They have a little trap door you can drop so you don’t have to take off your shirt when nature calls (this is annoying)! Unfortunately, I never wore this chamois before, and I had a new seat put on. The combination of the new seat and the new chamois wasn’t real good. I kept trying to stand to prevent chaffing. The more I stood, the worse my foot felt. I was sort of juggling between two different types of pain and just hoping to finish.

Overall, the course was pretty awesome. The weather was absolutely perfect for a race. This was the first time I physically held back because I was afraid of hurting myself (my foot), which was really hard for me to do. I was trying to be competitive with the girls in my class, but the terrain was SO hard and it took so much exertion to try to ride the rocks (especially the hills). I could feel my foot getting worse and worse. I decided that my goal for this one was just to finish and that I needed to take a break and get this foot better because racing at half-mast is no fun. I think I took 7th/8, but I can’t find the results anywhere. I’m still super happy I went, and I will be back for more.

Lesson # 4 – Don’t wear a new chamois and new seat for the first time during a race

Lesson # 5 – Don’t race when you are injured because it makes it worse and recovery is longer.